THE AMERICA:^ EEE JOURNAL. 



607 



case ; never on top, as they become 

 blurred. The net weights are not es- 

 sential, but the weights of the cases 

 or tare must always be plainly given. 



In marking for shipping use a very 

 small stencil or card. It the above 

 suggestions are adopted, comb honey 

 may be shipped any reasonable dis- 

 tance by freight vrith perfect safety, 

 and will Ijriiig better prices aiid 

 quicker reiunis than the usual slip- 

 snod cases in all sizes and shapes. 



Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 17, 1883. 



For the American Bee JourDaJ. 



Marshall County, Iowa, Convention. 



The Marshall County Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met at the Court House 

 in Marshalltowii, Iowa. Oct. fi. The 

 Vice-President. G. W. Keeler, in the 

 Chair. The minutes of the previous 

 meeting were read and approved. Mr. 

 C. A. Ilasken and Mr. il. M. Fuller 

 were received as members of the 

 society. 



The subject for discussion, "Fall 

 and Winter Care.'' was then taken up. 



Mr. Keeler stated that his bees are 

 wintered in a cellar, but he made no 

 fall preparation for them, more than 

 to put them in when it turns cold. 

 He puts one above another. So far he 

 was very successful in wintering. 



Mr. liosken winters his bees in the 

 cellar, and preferred it to out-door 

 wintering. 



J. AV. Sanders, being called for, said 

 that we should see that all were made 

 ready for the winter, in the latter 

 part of the honey season. This is 

 done by seeing that all have plenty of 

 young brood, late in the season, so as 

 to go into winter with plenty of young 

 bees. This can be done by placing 

 empty combs in the centre, if the 

 queen lacks room, owing to an over- 

 flow of honey, or by feeding, if there 

 is a lack of honey in the helds. He 

 thought that many colonies of bees 

 were lost in the latter part of tlie win- 

 ter and early in the spring for the 

 want of plenty of young bees late in 

 the season. For the life of a bee is 

 short when on the wing, and if it has 

 spent one-half or two-thirds of its life 

 in the field, it will naturally die before 

 another season comes in. Therefore, he 

 advised to have plenty of young bees to 

 tfike the place of the old, to prevent 

 what is called "spring dwindling." 

 Fix all up for winter after the honey 

 season is over by contracting the size 

 of the hive, with division-boards, so 

 that only enough combs remain to be 

 occupied by the bees. This will make 

 less space for them to keep warm. I 

 prefer two boards, one on each side. 

 The extra combs can be placed away 

 for use in the spring, as needed. If 

 any colonies are short of stores, add to 

 them by taking from those that has 

 plenty and some to spare. He prefers 

 a good quilt to a honey board, for a 

 quilt allows the escape of the moisture 

 and retains the heat of the bees. He 

 had seen hives with honey boards 

 damp and moldy, while in others, 

 close by them, the quilts were drv, 

 and the bees in prime condition. He 

 made quilts from old worn-out cloth- 

 ing or cai-pets, or anything that will 



make a good warm quilt, the size of a 

 honey-board. After all are thus pre- 

 pared, let them remain until winter 

 liegins, then put them in the cellar, 

 leaving the entrances open full width ; 

 place tliem a foot or more above the 

 bottom of the cellar, with the back 

 end of the hive, 2 or 3 inches higher 

 than the front. Keep the cellar above 

 the freezing point, say about 40° to 4.5° 

 Falir., and give them plenty of fresh 

 air. 



The following report was then 

 made : Mr. Ilasken had 15 colonies 

 in the fall of 1882, 13 in the spring of 

 1883, and has 82 now (sold 2), and 800 

 lbs. of surplus comb honey ; Mr. Fuller 

 had 5 colonies in the fall of 1882, 4 in 

 the spring of 1883, 12 now, and 100 lbs. 

 of surplus comb honey; Mr. Keeler 

 had 42 colonies in the fall of 1882, 37 

 in the spring of 1883, 62 now, 838 lbs. 

 of surplus comb honey and 2,880 lbs. 

 of extracted ; Mr. Sanders had 11 col- 

 odies in the fall of 1882,11 in the spring 

 of 1883, 25 now, 100 lbs. of surplus 

 comb honey, and 350 lbs. of extracted; 

 Mr. Brown had 2 colonies in the 

 spring of 1883, and has 10 now, and 

 100 lbs. of surplus comb honey. 



The subject for discussion at the 

 next meeting, was " Promotion of 

 Bee-Keeping.'" 



The Secretary stated that the Presi- 

 dent of the Marshall County Agricul- 

 tural Society requested all parties in- 

 terested in ,bee-culture to meet witli 

 the Society at their January meeting, 

 and assist" in making out a programme 

 for apiculture for the Fair of 1884. 



The meeting then adjourned until 

 the first Saturday in January, 1884, at 

 the Court House' in Marshalltowii. 

 J. W. Sanders, Sec. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Conditions of Wintering. 



J. E. I'OND, JR. 



The question of frames is one that 

 excites the ire, or arouses the sensi- 

 bilities of many to such an extent 

 that I propose to avoid it entirely in 

 this article, and confine myself wholly 

 to discussing the general conditions 

 in which a colony must be placed in 

 order to most safely withstand the 

 inclemencies of a northern winter. In 

 the first place I shall assume (and I 

 confidently assume without fear of 

 opposition) that the nearer our bees 

 can be kept to a state of absolute 

 quiet, the more successfully will they 

 be enabled to withstand, not only ex- 

 cessive cold but sudden changes of 

 temperature, both from warm to cold, 

 and t!ice versa. 



To attain this state or condition of 

 things, has been the aim and object 

 of scientific apiarists for many years, 

 and in their efforts in this direction, 

 many experiments have been tried, 

 with more or less success, but in none 

 of which have such positive results 

 been achieved, as to absolutely war- 

 rant any one in asserting that' an ab- 

 solutely correct method has as yet 

 been discovered. In theorizing on 

 the subject, the various questions of 

 ventilation, moisture, excess of heat, 



or want thereof, and various others 

 considered of more or less importance 

 have been discussed, but without as 

 yet deciding anything satisfactorily, 

 at least, the discussion still continues, 

 and the experiments show that with 

 all these points well fortified against, 

 and also without any regard to any of 

 them, bees live in some apiaries and 

 die in others, no matter how much 

 or how little care is taken in their 

 protection. That this is so, proves 

 conclusively that there is an error 

 somewhere in our calculations, and 

 that as yet we have not hit upon the 

 right idea. I may be as wild in my 

 opinions as any one, yet when I find 

 that no matter what the conditions 

 are, some apiaries are saved and some 

 lost. I am emboldened to give my 

 views publicity, and if nothing more 

 comes of it, than to start discussions 

 and experiments upon a new track. I 

 shall have accomplished some little 

 good, perhaps. 



I am of the opinion that in our ef- 

 forts so far, we have been laboring 

 under the idea that bees need as much 

 oxygen for their siipport,as we do our- 

 selves, and our lack of success is 

 caused by the incorrectness of that 

 idea. As I stated in beginning, I be- 

 lieve that when we so prepare our 

 bees that they will remain in a passive 

 state, a state of nearly absolute quiet, 

 an almost-dormant state, during the 

 whole wijiter. No matter what 

 changes of temperature may take 

 place, then and then only shall we 

 overcome the chief obstacle that ex- 

 ists to successful wintering. The fact 

 tliat a hive of bees completely sub- 

 merged under a snow-bank, during a 

 long and changeable winter, will come 

 out all right in the spring, is one 

 strong proof in this direction. 



This, I l:ielieve, is owing to the even- 

 ness of temperature which necessarily 

 prevails where the colony is com- 

 pletely submerged in so bad a conduc- 

 tor of heat as a snow-bank certainly 

 is. No heat can get in, and none can 

 get out ■ but it is not owing to this 

 alone, but to the fact that excess 

 of oxygen is kept out also. Snow is 

 sufficientlv porous to admit of the 

 passage of sufficient air to enable one 

 to live, still it will not allow of any 

 excess of air to pass through it. 



Excess of oxygen will, as a matter 

 of course, excite human life, why not 

 our bees V Any exciting cause pro- 

 duces a bad effect on our bees, by 

 starting them up from that state of 

 quiet so absolutely necessary for their 

 preservation, at a time when they 

 cannot fly freely from the hive. Oxy- 

 gen must be an exciting cause to our 

 bees as well as to ourselves ; now is it 

 not a logical deduction, and one that 

 is presumably correct, that if we con- 

 tract the entrances to our hives, so as 

 to give our bees the least possible 

 quantity of oxygen necessary for their 

 support, we shall aid more largely in 

 keeping them quiet, tlian by giving 

 tham a larger, and as simie advise, as 

 large an entrance as the width of the 

 liive will allow V I ask the question 

 ill all honesty and sincerity, and de- 

 sire ail ecjually honest and sincere 

 answer. 



Foxboro, Mass.. Nov. Ift. 1883. 



